Peter Dunn is president of Pete the Planner, based in Carmel, Ind. His column appears weekly online and in The Indianapolis Star's Business & Jobs section on Sunday.

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Peter Dunn

Despite the relatively brief nature of my polar hostage situation, I became cagey, bored, and strangely introspective. I found myself looking at stuff. Lots of stuff. Everywhere in the house, stuff. Where did all this stuff come from? Why did I buy it? And why haven't I used so much of it in so long? These seemingly rhetorical questions needed answers.

Our incomes are converted into stuff. At first it feels like our incomes are used for food, medicine, and shelter, but this isn't the Oregon Trail, and typhoid isn't as much of a concern ...